The Wait
I can’t work! I’ve tried, but it never lasts more than 15 minutes before my mind is wandering back to my mom. Life feels so chaotic, so frustrating, so unfair, so fucked up. I guess I have to recap a little, actually a lot. What the hell, I can’t seem to focus on work anyway. Let’s go back 20 years…….. Mom is on her way to the hospital, severe stomach pain. That’s weird, I wonder what’s going on with her, at the time I’m 17 and living with her and my step dad. I’ll summarize the agony of those days quickly; Mom has non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. When they told us the news, I can only recall how numb I felt, how disconnected. My mom had cancer? It took me back to my mom’s best friend, earlier in life, Judy Magrin. I loved her; she was so damn nice and had a fire about her that drew people in. Anyway, Judy died of breast cancer, and I recall slightly blurred memories of the painful fight. It seemed like we lived at Judy’s house, my mom always trying to make Judy comfortable, while we kids p...